


star pupil

by nasa



Category: Avengers (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dad!Tony, Fluff, Gen, High School, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 16:33:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14698068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nasa/pseuds/nasa
Summary: May can't make it to parent-teacher conferences, so Tony comes instead.-"What are you doing here?" Peter hisses."Isn't it obvious? Your aunt couldn't be here, so you've been blessed with me instead."





	star pupil

Peter is searching for a freshman’s conference schedule when Tony Stark strolls into his school gym unannounced.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter blurts out, a bit too loudly, and shuts his mouth sharply as Tony swivels to face him.

“Hey, Pete!” Tony says, moving his sunglasses to his forehead. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Uh, just one minute -“ Peter says, flustered, as he goes back to searching for the freshman’s envelope. He’s volunteering at parent-teacher conferences tonight, doing check-in and distributing schedules and progress reports for the parents that choose to show. It’s not exactly fun, but he’s trying to get back in the good graces of the administration after the shitshow that was Washington D.C., and this is a relatively painless way to achieve that.

Finally he finds the envelope, and he turns back to the waiting parent with a forced smile. “Mrs. Hernandez, here is your daughter’s schedule, your first conference is with Mr. Brown who is over at Table Six. Let me know if you need anything else!”

She squints at him, then at Tony, but doesn’t comment, moving slowly towards her designated table with an almost suspicious gate, like she thinks this may be an episode of Candid Camera. Peter waits until she’s out of earshot, then allows his customer service demeanor to slip as he turns to Tony with a glare.

“What are you doing here?” he hisses, leaping up from his seat so he can pull Tony aside. Tony’s wearing a dark suit, a graphic t-shirt, and his usual repulsor watch; anyone who glances at him would recognize him immediately, and judging by the murmurs already starting up around the gym, Peter thinks the number of people who’ve glanced at him is high.

“Isn't it obvious? Your aunt couldn't be here, and since one of the requirements of your - internship, is that you maintain good grades, you've been blessed with me instead. How else are we supposed to check how you're doing?”

Peter has to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose like a tired old man. “By checking the online grade portal. By talking to my principal. By emailing literally any of my teachers.”

“Eh.” Tony waves a hand. “This is simpler.”

“Simpler? You had to come all the way to the city -“

“Don’t worry, kid, I had meetings anyway. Besides, FRIDAY told me what that little shit Flash’s been saying to you.”

Peter groans. Flash’s taunting had been annoying at worst before, but he’s stepped it up since Peter beat him at the Science Fair a few weeks ago. One of the things he’s clung to in his escalation is Peter’s internship with Tony - he mocks him about it constantly, asking him whether he can get him Tony’s autograph, get a picture with him - but, oh, wait, no, you’ve never even seen him in person before, have you, Parker?

“Kid won’t be able to deny it now. How many people do you think there are here? Enough to constitute a horde, wouldn’t you say?”

Peter sighs. “Look, I appreciate the effort Mr. Stark, I really do, but I canceled all of May’s appointments when I knew she couldn’t come, so I don’t know how you’re planning to meet my teachers.”

“Yeah, you’re right, that’s a problem - oh wait. I’m a genius billionaire tech developer with an AI that can hack the NSA.” Tony raises an eyebrow at Peter. “I got FRIDAY to make me a schedule.” He taps his wrist, and the schedule pops up in hologram. “We’re good. All I need from you is your progress report.”

“Um,” Peter stammers, as Tony waits, eyebrows raised. “I don’t - is that really necessary, Mr. Stark, it -“

“Okay, now I need to know what you’re hiding. Let’s go, get the envelope.”

“Technically, it can only be given to a parent or guardian, and legally, you’re neither. So actually, I can’t give it to you -“

“Don’t make me hack the grade portal,” Tony threatens, and Peter sighs, pulling the envelope from where he’d stuffed it beneath his seat earlier that night, ready to let it disappear and never make it to Aunt May.

Just then, the buzzer goes off signaling the end to the current ten minute conferences and the beginning of the two minute passing period before the next ones begin. “That’s my cue,” Tony says. “Don’t pop a vein, it’ll be fine. I’m not that embarrassing.

Peter raises an eyebrow, but Tony is gone before he can say anything as a sort of counter.

“Excuse me,” someone says behind him. “Excuse me. Young man. Young man! You, the one who was just talking to Iron Man. Are you going to do your damn job or not?”

Peter blushes, hurrying back to his post. “Sorry, ma’am, so sorry,” he stammers, and gets to work searching for her envelope, trying not to think about what the hell Tony’s saying to his teachers right now.

The last hour of the conferences drags on agonizingly slowly. Whenever Peter gets a chance, he steals glances around the gym, trying to find whatever teacher Tony has set himself up with now, but the room is packed, and often, Peter can’t quite locate him. Peter does manage to spot him when he’s chatting with Dr. Yang, Peter’s chem teacher, laughing uproariously at some joke. But then the secretary from the front office shows up to tell them to start packing up the check-in table, and Peter loses sight of him.

Finally, the last buzzer sounds, and there’s a clattering of noise and voices as everyone simultaneously gets to their feet. 

Peter cranes his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Tony in the crowd. He’s just starting to think it’s fruitless - no doubt all the engineering mothers and chemist fathers are going to run him down - there’s a tap on Peter’s shoulder.

Peter spins around, hands coming up automatically to a fighting stance, to see Tony waiting, phone in hand.

He raises an eyebrow when he catches Peter’s stance. “Really?” he asks, as Peter hastily lowers his fists.

“Uh, sorry, I - sorry. Are you ready to go? We should probably clear out -“

“Yeah, Hap’s waiting, come on,” Tony says, turning and slipping out the side door before Peter can so much as blink. He glances around the gym and notices the eyes of everyone on him; a few of the kids who have tagged along even have their cell phones out, recording.

Peter swallows hard and follows.

“So all in all, not a bad night,” Tony comments as Peter falls into step beside him. “Your teachers seem thrilled with you.”

“That’s - that’s good, right?” Peter tries.

Tony hums. “Of course it’s good, you’re the star pupil. Only thing is, there’s a bit of a troubling dip on this progress report here -“

“I can explain, Mr. Stark, I promise -“

“C- in Spanish? Really, Peter? Puedes hacerlo mejor que eso.”

Peter sighs. “I know. There was a whole - there was a presentation, and I missed it, and now I’m working on the make-up project but it’s - it’s a lot of work, and frankly over my skill level, and I just need more time to - to figure out -“

“You know I speak fluent Spanish.”

Peter pauses. “Great?” he says eventually. “Thanks for rubbing it in?”

Tony rolls his eyes, gives Peter a light smack on the shoulder. “That’s not what I meant,” he says. “I could teach you. I’m already giving you weekend tutoring in engineering and superheroing, it’s not like adding a few Spanish lessons would be that much work.”

Peter blinks over at Tony, trying to see if there’s a catch. But Tony’s not looking at him; he’s glancing around the school, examining the trophy cases and cinderblock walls and generally doing his best not to look at Peter. Embarrassed, then - it’s genuine.

“That would be - that’d be great, Mr. Stark. Thank you so much.”

Tony waves a hand. “Hey, no problem, kid.”

They continue on in silence for a few more moments before Tony stops, suddenly, at the top of the main stairs. “Mr. Stark?” Peter asks. Tony’s eyes are wide and almost shiny in the fluorescent lights. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Tony says hoarsely. He coughs, clears his throat. “Yeah, I’m just - Happy’s waiting, do you want to get dinner? Ice cream? Take your pick.”

Peter follows his gaze, but he’s just looking at the mural of famous scientists on the wall. He follows them, one by one - Newton, Einstein - and Howard Stark. Peter glances back at Tony, but he’s started moving again, is halfway down the stairs.

What must his father have done to inspire that sort of reaction? Does he miss him? Peter never got the impression they were very close. Maybe he doesn’t miss him, maybe he was just taken by surprise. Peter supposes if he stumbled upon a portrait of one of his parent’s he’d be pretty taken aback.

“I heard about this place in Manhattan,” Tony continues, as though nothing had happened. “Apparently they make edible cookie dough? It’s supposed to be all over the internet, the line’s insane but it’s not like we’ll have to wait -“

“How about we just stick with ice cream?” Peter suggests, jogging to catch up to Tony just as they step outside into the cool night air. There’s a sleek black sedan idling by the curb. “There’s a place by my apartment. Mr. Hernandez my neighbor runs it, he’s really nice.”

“He speak Spanish?” Tony asks, and Peter nods. “Great. Then we’re speaking Spanish for the rest of the night. Empecemos!”

Peter groans.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who checked my Spanish! Extra thank you to FayeDuLake for the correction!
> 
> Also if anyone has any requests for other Peter & Tony fics, feel free to leave them in the comments: I'm hoping to write more this summer and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
> 
> find me at nasafic.tumblr.com!


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